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Recent Articles from Luige del Puerto and Hank Stephenson
AG investigating Gowan over use of state cars
The Attorney General’s Office today confirmed that it is investigating whether House Speaker David Gowan misused state vehicles and improperly billed the state for miles he shouldn’t have been reimbursed for.
Lesko’s odyssey: State senator takes turbulent journey toward pension reform
In her quest to reform the state’s public safety pension system, Sen. Debbie Lesko has been credited with accomplishing a Herculean task.
All eyes on the House after Senate approves pension reform
A jubilant Senate claimed victory on a historic public safety pension overhaul on Thursday, passing a long-awaited and hard-bargained package of reform bill out of the chamber with unanimous support.
Senate seeks speedy pension reform, but House wary
Flanked by Senate President Andy Biggs, local officials and a coalition of various public safety groups, Republican Sen. Debbie Lesko on Tuesday publicly unveiled the much-anticipated legislation to overhaul the Public Safety Personnel Pension System.
House reportedly working on competing pension reform measure
A few hours before a landmark overhaul of the state’s pension system for police officers and fire fighters was set to be publicly unveiled by a senator who negotiated the legislation with union and city officials over the past year, some stakeholders were summoned to a meeting in the House, where multiple sources said competing legislation might be offered.
Democrats’ conundrum: support or oppose the school finance deal
Each year without failure since the onset of the Great Recession, Democrats have denounced cuts to public education and clamored for more funding for K-12 schools, a demand that has gotten louder as the state’s economy improves.
Support remains unclear for school finance deal
The Arizona Capitol today turned into a beehive of activity, as Republican and Democratic legislators were briefed about the details of a proposed plan to settle a five-year lawsuit over education funding.
Gay marriage settled, but political fights remain
Arguing it would strengthen rather than diminish the institution of marriage, a divided U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in America.
Report: Universities faced nation’s deepest cuts even before latest reductions
Arizona sits atop the list of states that have made the deepest cuts to higher education and have enacted the largest tuition increases in the nation since the start of the recession.
Lawmakers’ legal troubles
All 90 lawmakers kept their noses clean through the legislative session, marking 2014 as one of the rare years when a personal legal trouble didn’t become an issue at the Capitol.
Video and comments trigger defamation suit against county GOP chair
After failing to get an apology from Maricopa County GOP Chairman A.J. LaFaro for his characterization of their canvasser as a “a vulgar, disrespectful thug that has no respect for our laws,” Citizens for a Better Arizona is pushing ahead with a defamation lawsuit against the Republican.
Leadership roundup: Gowan says he has votes to be speaker
Away from the media limelight, another political race is shaping up that will have tremendous repercussions for the Legislature’s actions in 2015.
